Calcutta:
The BJP vs Trinamool battle for Bengal promises to become a star. Roughly a dozen actors and actresses from Tollywood, Kolkata’s version of Bollywood, joined the BJP on Wednesday with just a few days left for the dates for the assembly elections to be declared.
Among the biggest names is Yash Dasgupta, the 35-year-old star of Bengali movies and TV series who debuted in a movie called Gangster in 2016 and even won a Filmfare Award for the role. Other well-known actors are Papia Adhikari and Soumili Biswas.
Yash Dasgupta is also friends with Trinamool MP and actor Nusrat Jahan, who was thrown into politics by Mamata Banerjee in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The other actors who made their debut in politics thanks to Trinamool include Mimi Chakraborty, Dev Adhikari and Sandhya Roy, the last veteran to leave politics since.
Most of the stars Trinamool featured in polls in the past have been winners. The BJP seems to have taken a page out of their book and displayed star power in the polls as well.
Was he contesting the ballot box? Yash Dasgupta was asked. He said that would be the party’s decision. But he was here to make a difference and he was ready.
“I think the BJP has been encouraging youth, believing that youth can bring changes for the better. I think if you want to change the system you must be part of it,” he said.
Dasgupta said he was very fond of Didi or Mamata Banerjee, BJP’s great rival in this poll. “I am Didi’s younger brother and I will continue to be. This morning I sent him a message saying that I would join BJP, I sought his blessing and conveyed my regards,” he said.
It was unclear if Mamata Banerjee had responded to his message.
Papia Adhikari and Soumili Biswas are two other well-known actors who joined the BJP on Wednesday. It is unclear how many of them will participate in the polls, but they are likely to be the party’s star activists.
The Trinamool has also been recruiting movie stars, the biggest so far being veteran Dipankar De, who starred in nearly half a dozen films by Satyajit Ray and other greats.
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